1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic camera, and more particularly to a portable electronic camera comprised of a plurality of component devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, such an electronic camera of the type described above is proposed to automatically shut off the power being supplied to the component devices constituting the electronic camera when the operation temperature increasing owing to the operation of the electronic camera becomes a predetermined temperature or higher. This camera cuts off a supply of power to the devices to prevent the operation temperature of the camera from increasing to a predetermined temperature or higher, thereby protecting it and securing a user""s safety.
However, such a camera merely cuts off the power to the devices and often has a short period of usable time, such as when an outside-air temperature is high for example. To remedy such a problem, a separate cooling device may be attached to suppress the operation temperature of the camera from increasing, but the addition of the cooling device makes the whole camera bigger.
It is an object of the invention to provide an electronic camera which can control internal temperature to a more appropriate level. It is another object of the invention to provide an electronic camera which is compact and can control internal temperature to a more appropriate level.
The electronic camera of the invention is provided with the following means in order to at least partially achieve the above-mentioned objects.
The electronic camera of the present invention is an electronic camera which is portable and comprised of a plurality of component devices, comprising a temperature detector for detecting the internal temperature of the electronic camera, and a power consumption controller for controlling power consumed by the equipment depending on the detected temperature.
In the electronic camera of the present invention, the temperature detector detects the temperature in the electronic camera, and the power consumption controller controls the power consumed by the component devices depending on the detected temperature. The electronic camera of the invention controls the power consumed by the devices depending on the temperature inside the camera, so that the temperature in the camera can be adjusted to a more appropriate temperature.
In the electronic camera of the invention, the power consumption controller can be a controller for controlling the equipment so to have a power-saving mode in which the power consumed by the devices can be made lower than the ordinary power consumption when the temperature inside the electronic camera detected by the temperature detector is higher than a first predetermined temperature. Thus, the temperature in the camera can be prevented from increasing to a predetermined temperature or higher.
In the electronic camera of the present invention, the power consumption controller can be a controller for controlling the equipment to return the power consumption by the devices to the ordinary power consumption when the temperature in the electronic camera detected by the temperature detector becomes lower than a second predetermined temperature which is lower than the first predetermined temperature while the devices are operating in the power-saving mode. Thus, the equipment can be operated appropriately depending on the temperature in the camera.
Furthermore, in the electronic camera of the invention, the power consumption controller can also be a controller for pausing the operations of the plurality of devices when the temperature in the electronic camera detected by the temperature detector exceeds a third predetermined temperature which is higher than the first predetermined temperature while the devices are operating in the power-saving mode. Thus, the equipment can be more reliably prevented from breaking down.
In the electronic camera of the invention, the power-saving mode can be at least one of modes where the operation speeds of the equipment are made slower than their speeds in the ordinary power consumption mode, where the operation speed of an image pickup device, which is included in the plurality of equipment and takes a picture of an object, is made slower than its operation speed in the ordinary power consumption mode and where the brightness of the pickup image shown on a display device, which is included in the plurality of devices, is made darker than that in the ordinary power consumption mode.